Олексій Гарань: Open Letter: Call on EU governments to stay away from FIFA World Cup

Rebecca Harms, expert on Eastern Europe of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, has initiated an open letter to call on EU governments to stay away from the FIFA World Cup taking place in Russia in June 2018. 60 Members of the European Parliament from 16 different Member States and 5 different political groups (Greens/EFA, EPP, S&D, ALDE and ECR) are supporting the call.

Rebecca Harms comments:

"Vladimir Putin is responsible for the occupation and war in Ukraine. He supports the brutal dictator and torturer Assad. The Russian army is responsible for horrendous war crimes in the war in Syria. President Putin is not a good host for the World Cup, while the war in Syria and Ukraine continues. He is not a friendly host as long as he supports right-wing extremist and anti-democratic parties in the EU, and tries to meddle into elections. Democratic governments should not contribute to Putin's self-staging as the strong man, whom the great and powerful of the world honour. Nobody should forget that three days after the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Russian army occupied Crimea. This shows how serious he was four years ago about the Olympic idea of mutual understanding between nations."

OPEN LETTER

To all EU governments,

We, Members of the European Parliament, call on you, as representatives of the

people in the European Union, to join the governments of Iceland and the UK in not

attending the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The Salisbury attack was just the latest chapter in Vladimir Putin's mockery of our

European values: indiscriminate bombings of schools, hospitals and civilian areas in

Syria; the violent military invasion in Ukraine; systematic hacking; disinformation

campaigns; election meddling; trying to destabilize our societies and to weaken and

divide the EU – all this doesn't make for a good World Cup host.

While we agree that sport can help build metaphorical bridges, as long as Putin is

blowing up real ones in Syria, we cannot pretend this World Cup is just like any other

major sporting event.

The world is looking at Europe in these difficult times. Our governments should not

strengthen the authoritarian and anti-western path of the Russian President, but

boycott the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and raise their voices for the protection of

human rights, of democratic values and peace.

Sincerely,

Adaktusson, Lars (EPP, Sweden)

Andrikiene, Laima (EPP, Lithuania)

Auštrevičius, Petras (ALDE, Lithuania)

Boni, Michal (EPP, Poland)

Bové, José (Greens/EFA, France)

Buzek, Jerzy (EPP, Poland)

Childers, Nessa (S&D, Ireland)

Delli, Karima (Greens/EFA, France)

Durand, Pascal (Greens/EFA, France)

Eickhout, Bas (Greens/EFA, Netherlands)

Fjellner, Christofer (EPP, Sweden)

Fotyga, Anna (ECR, Poland)

Gabelic, Aleksander (S&D, Sweden)

Giegold, Sven (Greens/EFA, Germany)

Griffin, Theresa (S&D, UK)

Guteland, Jytte (S&D, Sweden)

Harms, Rebecca (Initiator of this call, Greens/EFA, Germany)

Hetman, Krzysztof (EPP, Poland)

Heubuch, Maria (Greens/EFA, Germany)

Hökmark, Gunnar (EPP, Sweden)

Jadot, Yannick (Greens/EFA, France)

Jávor, Benedek (Greens/EFA, Hungary)

Jazłowiecka, Danuta (EPP, Poland)

Joly, Eva (Greens/EFA, France)

Kalinowski, Jarosław (EPP, Poland)

Kelam, Tunne (EPP, Estonia)

Kozłowska-Rajewicz, Agnieszka (EPP, Poland)

Kudrycka, Barbara (EPP, Poland)

Lambert, Jean (Greens/EFA, UK)

Lewandowski, Janusz (EPP, Poland)

Łukacijewska, Elżbieta (EPP, Poland)

Macovei, Monica (EPP, Romania)

Moody, Clare (S&D, UK)

Olbrycht, Jan (EPP, Poland)

Pabriks, Artis (EPP, Latvia)

Pietikäinen, Sirpa (EPP, Finnland)

Pitera, Julia (EPP, Poland)

Plura, Marek (EPP, Poland)

Rivasi, Michèle (Greens/EFA, France)

Ropé, Bronis (Greens/EFA, Lithuania)

Rosati, Dariusz (EPP, Poland)

Sargentini, Judith (Greens/EFA, Netherlands)

Siekierski, Czesław (EPP, Poland)

Smith, Alyn (Greens/EFA, UK)

Šojodrová, Michaela (EPP, Czech Republic)

Staes, Bart (Greens/EFA, Belgium)

Štětina, Jaromír (EPP, Czech Republic)

Szejnfeld, Adam (EPP, Poland)

Tarand, Indrek (Greens/EFA, Estonia)

Telička, Pavel (EPP, Czech Republic)

Thun und Hohenstein, Róża Gräfin von (EPP, Poland)

Trüpel, Helga (Greens/EFA, Germany)

Turmes, Claude (Greens/EFA, Luxembourg)

Vaidere, Inese (EPP, Latvia)

Valero, Bodil (Greens/EFA, Sweden)

Wałesa, Jarosław (EPP, Poland)

Ward, Julie (S&D, UK)

Wenta, Bogdan (EPP, Poland)

Zdrojewski, Bogdan (EPP, Poland)

Zwiefka, Tadeusz (EPP, Poland)